IMAGE: B2535.jpg6BUYNOW: http://tinyurl.com/y8q774fswLINKS: DESCRIPTION: This is a very unusual story of a great eccentric. A
linguist who developed extensive knowledge of Malaya and Indo-China.
A fascinating read -Highly Recommended.Every now and again a book publishes that provides a truly unique view
of military history. In this book, the unusual career of Colonel J P
Cross opens a completely new view of jungle warfare and the two very
different campaigns of Malaya and Vietnam.Col Cross was both a jungle fighter and linguist extraordinaire which
provided him with unique entry into the wars that have marked Malaya
and Vietnam during the second half of the 20th Century. In Malaya the
British managed to win a war against Communist expansion. In Vietnam
both the French and the Americans faced a similar threat and lost at
great cost. The major difference was that British soldiers, like Col
Cross, had learned to fight a bitter jungle war against the Japanese
and developed an understanding of the new threats that followed the
Japanese defeat. The British proved flexible and pragmatic, including
the use of Japanese troops when Col Cross commanded a battalion of
Japanese soldiers against the Vietminh.The French and the Americans tried a very different approach of
trying to fight a large engagement war with weapons and tactics more
suitable to Europe. Col Cross was able to develop a unique view of
the US efforts because his linguistic skills allowed him to blend
into the environment and move around the war zone without
interference from the Viet Cong and also obtain access to high
Laotian political circles.This account of his activities will offer a completely new
understanding of a region in chaos, developing out from European and
Japanese colonialism.